Celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day in the Black Hills

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO) –For the second year in a row, the NDN Collective hosted the Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at Main Street Square in downtown Rapid City.

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This event is a celebration of art, fashion, community and more.

“To acknowledge you know, the end of the Black Hills Pow Wow and to have a great big celebration and bring us all together. You know, we’re going to have food, we’re going to have a good time today and just be good relatives to one another. And this is open to everyone, not just Native people but our allies, our non-native relatives as well,” NDN Collectie Director of Strategic Partnerships Valeriah Big Eagle said.

This event features performers with different types of art from start to finish.

“That we are celebrating so many types of art here, that we are celebrating our food, our dance, spoken word, our teepee demonstration, rap, there will be pop music as well. There’s just all different types of art,” Event Performer Autumn White Eyes said.

This day of celebration also helps educate the youth on traditions, as well as teach the history of what this day now means.

“A lot of our culture and history is not taught in the school systems. And so to reconnect our people and our children, our indigenous youth to who they are. It’s reconnecting them to our cultural identity so that they’re able to face adversity,” Big Eagle said.

“We as indigenous people won’t forget that struggle either and we’ll remember, you know, how we had to overcome those struggles. But I think it’s a really beautiful thing that my nieces and nephews get to grow up in a time where they get to be proud about who they are and grow their hair long,” White Eyes said.

Hundreds of community members were in attendance to take part in this cultural celebration.

This year’s theme was investing in the community. The NDN Collective has given back to several Indigenous organizations this year.